MetaFilter

It is a sad day indeed when such a patriot as George Santos, not only a veteran of all three world wars but also the first black woman to win both a Nobel Peace Prize and the Stanley Cup, is expelled from congress.
posted to MetaFilter by Pickman's Next Top Model at 9:45 AM on December 1, 2023

Within minutes of Santos' departure, a similar looking car arrived, and out stepped a man with a massive beard and mustache, who held up a sheet of paper on which read:

"I APPOINT BORGE BANTOS TO BE US GOVERNMENT

SIGNED

THE GOVERNOR OF THAT STATE THAT GEORGE SANTOS IS FROM"

After which heavily-bearded and now expliciably sunglassed indoors Borge Bantos walked into the House chambers... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by AzraelBrown at 9:41 AM on December 1, 2023

Too obviously corrupt for (some) Republicans is VERY obviously corrupt.

What did him in, the only thing that did him in, was that he was stealing from his fellow Republicans, and not just the rank and file that they normally grift.
posted to MetaFilter by Parasite Unseen at 9:18 AM on December 1, 2023

I think it finally got personal for some Republicans. Via Joshua Friedman on Bluesky : "Rep. Max Miller, who called Santos a "crook" on the floor yesterday, sends out this e-mail to fellow members."
Colleagues -

Late yesterday on the floor I alluded to a personal impact of Rep. Santos's conduct. Earlier this year I learned that the Santos campaign had charged my personal credit card - and the personal card of my Mother - for contribution... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by maudlin at 9:16 AM on December 1, 2023

OMG, Megaforce. The guy riding the upside-down flying motorcycle at the end...I am 12 again.
posted to MetaFilter by Mid at 2:39 PM on December 1, 2023

It's even more brutal when you compare it to his statement on the passing of Rosalynn Carter.

Or Tony Bennett.
posted to MetaFilter by Gelatin at 7:04 AM on December 1, 2023

The Onion with their unerring unfaltering genius, included Bashar al-Assad at the bottom of the "React to the Death of Kissinger" article.

The Bashar al-Assad satirical quote?
“Game recognizes game.”
posted to MetaFilter by spamandkimchi at 8:13 PM on November 30, 2023

Biden's "condolence" statement is hilariously ice cold and doing the absolute least.

wow.
The whole thing is *chef's kiss* but that last line...

It's even more brutal when you compare it to his statement on the passing of Rosalynn Carter.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cheshyre at 5:59 PM on November 30, 2023

Here's something distressing to think about: What if this is the best possible timeline and things are uniformly much worse in every alternate timeline where he didn't exist?

It's nothing to do with Kissinger, but it turns out that this is the only timeline with mammals and reptiles and suchlike. All the other timelines just have rocks with googly eyes.
posted to MetaFilter by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:51 PM on November 30, 2023

Well, this is how I found out Henry Kissinger died.
posted to MetaFilter by dirigibleman at 7:21 PM on November 29, 2023

Don’t know how to link from FB, but Corey Robin: “Gore Vidal was once in the Sistine Chapel, where he stumbled upon Henry Kissinger “gazing thoughtfully” at the Hell section of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment. “Look,” said Vidal to a friend, “he’s apartment hunting.”
posted to MetaFilter by lassie at 8:43 PM on November 29, 2023

@dasharez0ne has posted
posted to MetaFilter by credulous at 7:54 PM on November 29, 2023

Two weeks ago, I posted this to social media: [nitter.net]

Nov 14, 2023 · 12:25 AM UTC

My drinking hasn't been at a level where it's a problem, but I feel like my drinking in the last, say, five years or so has been much higher than what's normal for me. So I'm making a public pledge:

I will not have any alcohol until Henry Kissinger is dead.

It could be a week. It could be ten years.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by AlSweigart at 7:12 PM on November 29, 2023

CONGRATULATIONS.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU HAVE OUTLIVED HENRY KISSINGER.
posted to MetaFilter by AlSweigart at 6:55 PM on November 29, 2023

Okay Metafilter, you have finally won the "we don't have to be nice on obituaries" argument.
posted to MetaFilter by corb at 6:42 PM on November 29, 2023

This morning while I waited for my coffee, I distinctly thought, “Kissinger better not outlive DJ, or I SWEAR TO GOD…”

If you could do this on command, you could start up a hell of a Patreon with a talent like that.
posted to MetaFilter by notoriety public at 6:42 PM on November 29, 2023

This is all my fault, guys. My geriatric tuxedo cat is ailing, and we have an appointment with the vet tomorrow to figure out what’s going on and how to proceed.

This morning while I waited for my coffee, I distinctly thought, “Kissinger better not outlive DJ, or I SWEAR TO GOD…”

Deej is curled up with me now, snoozing, using the orange tabby’s butt as a pillow.

So, sorry about that. Totally my bad!
posted to MetaFilter by armeowda at 6:39 PM on November 29, 2023

I'm a bit saddened he managed to outlive Rosalynn Carter if only by a few days.

In my head-canon the timing here is due to Mrs. Carter raising some objections upon arrival upstairs.
posted to MetaFilter by Jarcat at 6:39 PM on November 29, 2023

I was waiting for a critical obit, not the mealy-mouthed "architect of foreign polciy" other outlets had.

Nailed it and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
posted to MetaFilter by Artw at 6:12 PM on November 29, 2023

Lotta grim reaper at playing the grabber arm machine memes right now.
posted to MetaFilter by Artw at 6:11 PM on November 29, 2023

And they're still sardonically relevant: here's What Are We Going To Do About The Rich? and Give Stupidity A Chance. Both of which are exactly as political as you might expect from the titles ...
posted to MetaFilter by cstross at 8:53 AM on November 24, 2023

Tangentially, just a couple of days ago, a video of Sleaford Mods covering the Pet Shop Boys dropped, something that I would have never imagined in a million years.

("Profits generated by the single are being donated by Sleaford Mods to Shelter, following on from their previous work with the charity")
posted to MetaFilter by smcdow at 2:41 PM on November 23, 2023

This is the sort of committed nerdery that the internet is for.
posted to MetaFilter by mhoye at 1:50 PM on November 24, 2023

I've just realized what this reminds me of: Of Oz the Wizard, the alphabetized Wizard of Oz.
posted to MetaFilter by BiggerJ at 9:22 PM on November 25, 2023

Oh I 100% read the Sonic thing as a combination of “this isn’t the story you think you know” and metatextual joke
posted to FanFare by DoctorFedora at 3:02 AM on November 23, 2023

Why change the Pac-Man story to Sonic, though? Hmm.

Was this not a meta joke about Michael Cera (et al.) playing the same character(s) in two different iterations of Scott Pilgrim?
posted to FanFare by potent_cyprus at 6:04 PM on November 20, 2023

kind of ironic considering that it came out just after Netflix shut down their DVD delivery service.

Also ironic as we never had the Netflix DVD service in Canada.
posted to FanFare by Ashwagandha at 12:50 PM on November 18, 2023

@justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow just reminded me of one of the greatest Doctor Who primers:

YouTube: Craig Ferguson - The lost "Dr. Who" cold open. 2:47 will tell you all you need to know :)
posted to MetaFilter by kmartino at 4:36 AM on November 25, 2023

I hope it's an entertaining presentation, because 24 hours is a long time to hold audience attention unless you've planned very carefully.

To be clear, hippybear, the livestream will only be about 24 hours, while the entire "Stitches In Time" playlist is approximately three weeks long.
posted to MetaFilter by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:52 PM on November 24, 2023

that grouse is a BORB.
posted to MetaFilter by humbug at 1:29 PM on November 23, 2023

The white grouse is One Round Birb.
posted to MetaFilter by Kitteh at 11:52 AM on November 23, 2023

Yes! For the first kickstarter they even got him to say "HERE... at Comedy Central!" once for old times' sake!
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 9:24 AM on November 23, 2023

Yes! The schedule is:

Thursday
9AM ET/6AM PT: Bride Of The Monster
11AM ET/8AM PT: The Pumaman (Surgically Enhanced)
1PM ET/10AM PT: Escape 2000
3PM ET/12PM PT: Beyond Atlantis
5PM ET/2PM PT: The Beatniks
7PM ET/4PM PT: Viking Women and the Sea Serpent
9PM ET/6PM PT: The Giant Gila Monster
11PM ET/8PM PT: The Starfighters (Surgically Enhanced)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 3:22 AM on November 23, 2023

If the SOP for botching an assassination is to murder the family, then clearly he's pulled off several successful ones. Also, he says that he doesn't like sniper jobs and wishes he could do more stimulating murders. Then he goes on a string of up close kills as a personal project. And I don't think an incompetent guy lives through the fight in Florida..

I think it's a portrait of an alienated rich guy who is having some kind of crisis and is not keeping it together but... [more]
posted to FanFare by fleacircus at 8:43 PM on November 16, 2023

Is he human and he needs to be loved just like everybody else does?

Well played.
posted to FanFare by kirkaracha at 9:23 PM on November 22, 2023

I am not up to date on what it means for OpenAI, but in the classical (super old) reinforcement learning theory that I am familiar with a bit, Q* refers to the reward/value of taking the optimal action in a given situation. If Q (the reward for a given action, whether optimal or not) is being approximated by some network, then getting learning to work well and getting accurate Q* estimates is a hard problem, especially because reinforcement learning deals with machine models that learn about... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by brambleboy at 10:46 PM on November 22, 2023

@alexheath:Sam Altman and Greg Brockman’s move to Microsoft isn’t a done deal. They are still plotting a return to OpenAI.
Pressure is on the board to still resign gracefully after the flipping of Ilya Sutskever last night
...
OpenAI employees at the company’s SF HQ refused to attend an all hands scheduled with new CEO Emmett Shear on Sunday
They are currently working to maintain the service with the hope that the board will relent under threat of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gwint at 11:39 AM on November 20, 2023

I'm not sure if the Doctor Who show bible is hundreds of pages long or a leaflet, because both feel simultaneously true all the time

It looks like a leaflet but then when you open it up it's a much, much bigger book on the inside.
posted to MetaFilter by Ursula Hitler at 2:59 PM on November 18, 2023

Honestly, given how annoying it is to navigate the world with even mild mobility impairment, I’m a little surprised that every person who uses a wheelchair isn’t building an army of murderous servitors for revenge. Davies was just particularly lucky.
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 3:45 AM on November 18, 2023

I'm sure Who fandom will react to this in a calm and level-headed way.
posted to MetaFilter by fight or flight at 3:15 AM on November 18, 2023

Altman was the only one holding back the singularity. Brockman knows this and is fleeing to his bunker to avoid the wrath of Roko's Basilisk.

for some reason I read this as "Roko's Ballsack," which I think will be my nickname for Altman going forward.
posted to MetaFilter by rouftop at 10:41 AM on November 18, 2023

Why not "Sam Altman-Fired" ?
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 3:55 AM on November 18, 2023

The vampire/angel then becomes a visual symbol of how far a religious person or community could go to recast an obvious evil as good. There's always some Bible verse that can be read as supporting what's happening. This thing is scary as hell? Well, sure! Humans are always scared when they meet angels. We're supposed to drink its blood? You remember the words of Jesus--my blood is real food. No matter how flimsy the pretense, if we can hang a verse on the situation we can press ahead.... [more]
posted to FanFare by showbiz_liz at 6:18 AM on November 14, 2021

There was clearly a choice here, and I'm puzzled as to why King Vampire was so overtly demonic. It was gobsmackingly weird that Pruitt would look at it, with the pointy ears, the leathery pointy wings, the claws, naked, and think "angel!".

I have no idea what Flanagan intended, but from my perspective the alpha vampire is obviously, obviously not an angel, and we as audience members aren't supposed to think it's an... [more]
posted to FanFare by Pater Aletheias at 9:18 AM on November 11, 2021

Oh! And when have you ever felt relieved when a child says "I can't feel my legs"?
posted to FanFare by Mogur at 3:47 PM on October 1, 2021

Indeed. The sheer primal relief of someone finally saying, "Beverly, you are not a good person." energized me for the entire rest of the episode. Well, that and the ugly cry.
posted to FanFare by Mogur at 3:46 PM on October 1, 2021

I love the ambiance and the tone, and a lot of the framing of shots is staged in a deliberately obvious purposeful way that I enjoy. The plot is not the strong suit, but they've made some solid choices, and it's certainly not been a bad plot so far (up to episode 5). They're relying on flavor and putting good actors in close-up and letting them do face work and it's great.

It's *very* Stephen King, though. Like, Bev Keane just got lost on her way to The Stand or The... [more]
posted to FanFare by Scattercat at 12:58 AM on September 26, 2021

How is the OpenAI board gonna fire Sam Altman just because he gave answers that sounded plausible but weren't actually accurate?
posted to MetaFilter by jeremias at 5:16 PM on November 17, 2023

You know how sometimes you're like three quarters of the way through a book and you finally realize what the theme is? I just now finally got 2023:

"I can't believe these people are in charge of the future."
posted to MetaFilter by MrVisible at 7:21 PM on November 17, 2023

I'm just joining this queue in dumb awe
posted to MetaFilter by elkevelvet at 12:05 PM on November 16, 2023